The high-class mare Magical, winner of both the Champion Stakes at Leopardstown and Ascot last year, appears to have a straightforward task on her seasonal debut in the Group 1 Alwasmiyah Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh.
A top-class, 122-rated mare, Magical has proven a great servant for the Ballydoyle/Coolmore team in recent seasons and, last year in addition to her Group 1 successes, she bumped into the mighty Enable in both the Eclipse at Sandown and the Yorkshire Oaks.
She outpointed stable-companions Magic Wand and Anthony Van Dyck in the QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown last September, her second Group 1 win of the season, having landed the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh in May.
She backed-up her Leopardstown success with a fifth behind Waldgeist and Enable in the Arc and rounded off a tremendous season by beating Addeybb and Deidre in the Qipco British Champions Stakes at Ascot in October.
Magical won’t be fully fit for this return to action. But she looks a cut above her rivals, including stable-companion Fleeting, no match for Leo De Fury on her return at the Curragh, and the classy Jessica Harrington-trained three-year-old Cayenne Pepper, a Group 3 winner at the Curragh before finishing fourth to Quadrilateral in the Fillies Mile at Newmarket.
Denis Hogan houses Ireland’s two top sprinters in his County Tipperary yard. And, following an impressive win in the recent Sole Power at Naas, his Make A Challenge will be expected to strike Group 2 glory in the Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands Stakes.
A hugely progressive sprinter last season, rocketing up the ratings, he bolted-up in the listed Waterford Testimonial over this course and distance in October before being supplemented for the Group 1 sprint on Champions Day at Ascot, where he finished fifth to Donjuan Triumphant.
Suited by juice in the ground, Make A Challenge is rated 2lb superior to Joseph O’Brien’s ultra-consistent Speak In Colours, fifth to Hello Youmzain in the Diamond Jubilee at Royal Ascot, and is expected to continue his rise up the sprinting ranks by landing the spoils.
The Rockingham looks wide-open. But, if the rain arrives, top-weight Urban Beat, from the in-form yard of Johnny Murtagh and an encouraging fourth to Make A Challenge at Naas, should finish in the shake-up.
And Sharjah, last seen when runner-up to Epatante in the Champion Hurdle, appeals off a flat mark of 92 in the concluding two-mile handicap.
Tips
2.00.Snowfall
2.35.Ace Aussie
3.10.Napa Valley
3.45.Urban Beat
4.15.Make A Challenge (Nap)
4.45.Magical
5.15.Sheisdiesel
5.45.Sharjah
Next Best
2.00.Choice And Chance
2.35.Hudson River
3.10.Masteroffoxhounds
3.45.Maid Of Spirit
4.15.Speak In Colours
4.45.Fleeting
5.15.Centroid
5.45.Dalton Highway
Double: Make A Challenge and Magical.
O’Hehir’s Longshot: Spruce Meadows (5.15.)
